Humanverse

Whit vs Whitten

American parents have registered 1,287 Whits since 1880, against 538 Whittens. Whit is still ahead, with 79 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Whit against Whitten, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Whit Whitten

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 110 years in which either name was published, Whit for 101 years and Whitten for 9 years. The lead changed hands 10 times.

Side by side

  Whit Whitten
Total US births 1,287538
Most in one year 7943
Babies in 2025 7943
Estimated living today 890530
Median age today 97
Peak year 20252022
Best rank 1,942nd boys2,919th boys
Rank in 2025 1,942nd2,884th
First recorded 18811997
Girls / boys 0 / 1,28722 / 516

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Whits alive today are over 9; half the Whittens are over 7. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Whit and Whitten.